Clearwater Park - Springfield, OR

June 2nd, 2011, 11:38 AM

Hello everyone,

I don't know if anyone else has looked into Clearwater Park in Springfield in the past couple years, but I've been keeping in touch with Willamalane as to the possibility of a disc golf course actually becoming part of the master plan for the park. Yes, it's still a possibility, and just recently a lot of projects (a bike path and flush restrooms) have been completed at the park, items which back in 2009 were holding up planning related to disc golf.

Anyway, there's going to be the first (of two) planning meetings for Clearwater Park on June 16th. Unlike the Alton Baker Park meetings, disc golf isn't the main topic.. the development of a long-term master plan for the park (which could include an 18-hole disc golf course) is the topic. But I think it would be wonderful if the local disc golf community could make a strong showing at the meeting, so Willamalane can see just how much interest there is in developing a new disc golf course in the Eugene/Springfield area.

Here is the text of the email I received:

Dear Willamalane Supporter,

We invite you to attend a public meeting to share your ideas about future improvements to Clearwater Park in Springfield. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 16, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Willamalane Center for Sports and Recreation, 250 S. 32nd Street, Springfield.

The meeting is the first of two public meetings to discuss the 65-acre park’s master plan. A second meeting will be scheduled sometime in early fall. A short presentation about the park and potential for future development will be followed by a group discussion.

Clearwater Park is located along the Middle Fork of the Willamette River off Clearwater Lane. The park currently offers many recreation opportunities such as river access at the boat ramp, fishing, picnicking and bird-watching. In addition, there are walking and biking opportunities along the new, paved multi-use Middle Fork Path.

We value your opinion! The input we receive from the public is an important piece in our decision making process about future improvements at Clearwater Park.

For more information about the meeting, contact Nicole Ankeney, landscape architect/parks planner, at 541-736-4055 or nicolea@willamalane.org. Also, check out more information about Clearwater Park on our website.

Comment

I'm going to try and be there, and some other people representing EDGC will hopefully also attend. It is good to have disc golf supporters at these meetings, but a show of numbers is not as important at this point as how we represent our interest. This meeting will have chances for feedback and input on what you'd like to see in the park and that's the time to advocate and raise a voice for disc golf. Please be respectful and courteous.

Good themes to remember:

eco-friendly

fun for all ages and fitness levels

affordable for families

fastest growing recreational sport in the country

our community needs more disc golf courses

If you are going to attend the meeting, you could also send an email before or after to: Nicole Ankeney nicolea@willamalane.org and introduce yourself, thank her for the chance to give input, and explain your interest in disc golf and desire to help with the planning process.

I asked the park planner if feedback from all interested parties was desired and she said yes. So please take the survey, be honest about where you live and how often you might realistically visit the park, and voice some support for a disc golf course there if you'd like to see one.

Comment

There was a meeting this week to review the draft Master Plan for Clearwater Park. I was not able to attend (please speak up if you did), but I did just hear back from the planner:

"We will be posting a version of the presentation online with the draft plan early next week and hope to have a survey attached to get additional feedback from those who could not attend the meeting. We are proposing a 9-hole disc golf course as part of the plan and more info should be available soon online."

This doesn't mean that a course is approved yet, but it's made it into the draft plan! I will update here when there is another chance to give feedback, and will stay in touch with the planners and make sure they know that we are ready to help.

Comment

Comment

Hmmm. I received the email stating that there would be a second meeting in early fall but I didn't get an invite to this meeting. Unfortunate, as I would have attended. Did any disc golfers on Nicole's list receive a notice about this recent meeting? I too would like to know how it went.

Comment

Hmmm. I received the email stating that there would be a second meeting in early fall but I didn't get an invite to this meeting. Unfortunate, as I would have attended. Did any disc golfers on Nicole's list receive a notice about this recent meeting? I too would like to know how it went.

Yes, I got an e-mail. I neglected to post the info here and I was unable to attend. It sounds like the meeting was intended to show the draft plan and get comments. I think the info from the meeting will be online soon and there will be a chance to comment. I will keep this thread updated.

Comment

The Clearwater Park Draft Master Plan is now available online if you'd like to check it out. There is also a short survey where you can give feedback on the plan.

Currently, a 9 hole disc golf course is proposed in a mostly wide open part of the park. No design has been proposed yet, what you will see in the draft plan is just an example of how a course would fit into the proposed area. The parks planners are interested in design help from disc golfers if the course is approved.

Given how many different amenities made it into the draft plan - disc golf, archery range, nature trails, nature center, fishing pier, etc - and the amount of language in the plan referencing parts of the park being a "natural area" I am pretty skeptical that they would consider moving the disc golf proposal to a more interesting part of the park. There's just not that much space.

That's good and bad, in my opinion. It's good because the other areas of the park suitable for disc golf would take a lot of work to get ready, be much more expensive to install, and would be seasonally very, very wet and possibly not playable year round. Sort of a mini-Bryant park situation. Do-able, but not something that a park district brand new to disc golf would probably jump into right away. The proposed area is much more ready to install. The draft plan refers to the course being on a "trial basis" so this area does make some sense as it will be low-cost to get up and running. it's bad because the course will likely be not that interesting.

At best this would be a short, very open beginner friendly course that could showcase how popular disc golf has become and how it can co-exist in a multi-use park without a lot of expense to the park district. That would hopefully spark some interest in more course development with Willamalane in the future at another site.

All things considered I think this is really a great thing for disc golf in Eugene-Springfield. Thank you to all the people who got this ball rolling with Willamalane over the last few years, to my knowledge these people include Dave Feldberg, Andrew Rich, Jesse Everett and Rebecca Duffy but I'm sure there were more. The fact that we made it into a draft master plan and the parks planners seem inclined to install without a huge fuss is a nice change of pace.

Comment

Just to add to Matt's post a little.. I've been talking with Willamalane about installing a course at Clearwater Park for about a year now, and have been keeping a suggested course layout updated for them as planning has progressed. I've attached two versions of the current suggested course layout, a satellite version mapping the course onto the currently-proposed area, and an aerial photo version. As well as having tested most of this layout, I took some inspiration from the original 2009 Feldberg et. al. layout for an 18-hole course for the park. Just to quickly sum up the layout: it's a white-level (Recreational) Par-27 course layout, with about the best mix of right/left, wooded/open, and guarded basket/restricted line holes I could come up with, given the space provided for the course. All holes are between 240 and 410ft.

At the earliest, the course could be installed sometime after Summer 2012. Here is the response I received from Willamalane on the topic:

Currently, we do not have a specific timeline. We will have a lot of construction going on this summer for the new boat ramp and expanded parking lot, which may create some congestion and limit use of the parking lot near the ramp. Until this project is complete, we do not have enough infrastructure to handle adding more park uses, such as disc golf or archery.

Comment

Just to add to Matt's post a little.. I've been talking with Willamalane about installing a course at Clearwater Park for about a year now, and have been keeping a suggested course layout updated for them as planning has progressed. I've attached two versions of the current suggested course layout, a satellite version mapping the course onto the currently-proposed area, and an aerial photo version. As well as having tested most of this layout, I took some inspiration from the original 2009 Feldberg et. al. layout for an 18-hole course for the park. Just to quickly sum up the layout: it's a white-level (Recreational) Par-27 course layout, with about the best mix of right/left, wooded/open, and guarded basket/restricted line holes I could come up with, given the space provided for the course. All holes are between 240 and 410ft.

At the earliest, the course could be installed sometime after Summer 2012. Here is the response I received from Willamalane on the topic:

Currently, we do not have a specific timeline. We will have a lot of construction going on this summer for the new boat ramp and expanded parking lot, which may create some congestion and limit use of the parking lot near the ramp. Until this project is complete, we do not have enough infrastructure to handle adding more park uses, such as disc golf or archery.

Great job Jesse! The maps make the space look a little more interesting for a course. Here's to hoping we can get some golfing at Clearwater in 2012!